American winner takes all

Chapter 239 Leeks delivered to your door (22)

"I'm not kidding, I left my assistant and drove here alone."

Demi Moore was standing next to Ethan chattering as he closed the trunk lid.

"Then...contact the other party." Ethan said.

Taking a taxi, especially in Los Angeles at such a late hour, is really not practical.

"My phone is out of battery." Demi Moore took out her phone from her bag, and it was really out of battery.

"Then go to the LAPD, they will be happy to send you home." Ethan continued.

"Okay, I'll keep my distance from you and won't let you in. Is that okay?" Seeing Ethan being so determined, Demi Moore said a little angry.

You bastard, do you really think I need a man?It's your luck to fall in love with you.

"Get in the car." Ethan got into the cab.

"Are you really loyal to Lisa? Is she going to give you a loyalty bonus?" Demi Moore said sourly, casually placing her dead cell phone beside her.

Ethan remained silent.

"I have an open relationship with him, and we have been separated for a long time." Demi Moore continued.

Ethan still didn't answer.

"Have you seen Dance Moms? What do you think of my figure?"

Ethan still didn't speak.

"I'm so hot, I'm sweating all over after being drunk." Demi Moore began to take off her coat.

Ethan silently turned on the air conditioner.

Winter has not completely passed yet. Even in Los Angeles, which is located in the south, the nights are still cold. Demi Moore's face darkened and she put on her coat again shivering.

This time Demi Moore finally gave up and looked out the window.

"Do the Tipsy Sisters often hold activities?" Ethan asked calmly at this time.

"There are regular gatherings every year, but on weekdays everyone is very busy, so there may only be two or three times throughout the year, and only ladies can enter."

"Oh, I understand, no wonder you are willing to send me back and want your Lisa Vigil to break into this circle, right? Sorry, the sisterhood is only for actresses, and new members need to get more than one-third to join Only if two members agree.”

"But having said that, you can bring a male companion to the party. I can invite you next time." Demi Moore said with a sly smile.

"Here you go, it counts as the fare." Before getting off the bus, Demi Moore took out a few hundred-dollar bills from her bag, folded them and blocked the air-conditioning vent.

Then he chose to get off the bus without looking back.

After she left, Ethan unfolded the bills one by one. It was obvious that Demi Moore didn't want to owe him a favor, and she was quite generous.

"She can be considered a rich woman." Ethan looked at the luxurious building not far away.

Speaking of which, the salaries of these five actresses are quite high.

·
Leonardo DiCaprio woke up from his sleep with a splitting headache.

Wait, why is everything dark? !

He touched his cheek in panic.

It's so cold. Where are you?
He reached out subconsciously and immediately felt that he was in an extremely cramped space.

"Boom, boom, boom"

"let me out!!!"

In the garage, there was the sound of someone banging on the trunk.

"Sneeze!" Xiao Lizi sneezed heavily. He was wrapped in a blanket and holding a cup of hot water in his hands, bringing it to his mouth tremblingly.

He had just been released by Ethan, and he threw his clothes into Ethan's washing machine.

At this moment, you can see Ethan standing in front of the window and talking on the phone.

"You are such a madman, you made me stay in the trunk all night!" Xiao Li said through gritted teeth.

"Your mother doesn't want me to appear in front of her. I have no choice but to bring you back!" Ethan turned around and sat on the single sofa next to him.

"Then you're so cruel as to throw me in the trunk?!" Xiao Lizi's voice rose.

"Actually, I forgot." Ethan looked at him.

"forget?"

"That's right." Ethan nodded.

"Fuck U!" DiCaprio muttered, then sneezed again.

"You must have...Demi Moore last night, I remember, did you go to bed with her? Or was it just in the car?" DiCaprio asked immediately as he recalled what happened last night.

Ethan looked a little absent-minded, and his answers were vague.

This further strengthened Xiao Lizi's thoughts.

He has forgotten how many times Ethan has snatched away the woman he likes.

"Then you are wrong. I have not had any close contact with her." Ethan shook his head.

"That's not what you said earlier."

"I just encountered some problems." Ethan frowned.

He did encounter a problem. The call just now was from William. He was mainly talking to Ethan about REDBOX. This commercial project of renting and selling video tapes with vending machines should have already entered the stage according to Ethan's original expectation. On the right track, it’s time to enter the next round of financing, and it’s time for you to leave with generous returns.

But the result was far from what Ethan expected.

At present, REDBOX, with the cooperation of William and several of his classmates, has been rolled out around San Francisco and Northern California. The company has thousands of vending machines under its name.

Although the business is impressive, it has been particularly coldly received in terms of capital.

William visited almost all the investors he could in Silicon Valley around New Year, and the valuation given by them was less than half of Ethan's expectation.

During this year, REDBOX also burned all the money Ethan had invested previously, most of which was used to purchase vending machines.

As a result, the REDBOX project fell into a very embarrassing situation. It had to be cut off and left based on the valuation of those investors.

Or, Ethan bites the bullet and continues to invest money in the project.

Apart from that, there is no third option.

As for the reason for the low valuation, according to William, the Internet industry is now in full swing, and hot money in Silicon Valley has begun to rush towards Internet projects.As one goes and the other goes, entrepreneurial projects like REDBOX that focus on offline entities cannot help but receive a cold reception.

After thinking about it carefully, Ethan decided to cut off his flesh and leave.

The loss is also temporary. Next, I will rush to Nasdaq and make a lot of money during the two years of the Internet bubble. The money is just a drop in the bucket.

Engaging in competitions and acquiring clubs, neither of which requires abundant capital?Things always happen step by step.

Seeing Ethan thinking carefully, Xiao Lizi also knew that Ethan had something troublesome and asked about it.

"It's an investment matter...it doesn't affect the overall situation." Ethan shrugged.

"Are you still investing? How does it compare with the stockbrokers in New York?" Xiao Lizi asked at this time.

Currently, as an actor, Li Zi certainly belongs to the high-income group. He has saved a lot with Lisa in the past two years and has begun to care about investment matters.

While chatting, Xiao Lizi saw a mobile phone on the table. "This belongs to Demi Moore. She left her phone in the car last night," Ethan explained.

"Ethan, do you swear you didn't do that to her?" Xiao Lizi asked again. He seemed to be very concerned about this matter. There was nothing he could do. This was not the first time Ethan had his beard cut off.

Just as he was talking, there was a knock on the door.

Ethan went to open the door and found Demi Moore herself at the door.

She was still wearing the same clothes as yesterday.

"The assistant is sick. I can only come here in person. Open the door quickly." Demi Moore shouted.

In fact, it was just that she was good at making suggestions and came in person.

When she came in, she saw Xiao Lizi sitting on the sofa of Ethan's house wrapped in a blanket.

"No wonder, you are the one pretending to be principled." She smiled contemptuously, thinking that there was a special relationship between Ethan and Little Plum.

Ethan returned the phone to her expressionlessly. Her phone was the same model as Ethan's. Ethan had specially charged it fully, otherwise the two would not be able to contact her.

"Hey, why are you so depressed? It can't be because of me. You two had a fight, right?" Demi Moore took the phone and joked.

"It has nothing to do with you." Ethan shook his head.

"I don't think so." Demi Moore sneered.

"It's because of investment." Xiao Lizi said directly at this time.

"Investment... By the way, your bowl game is so profitable. If you need funds, you can talk to me." Demi Moore said slowly.

Of course she knows that hosting games makes money, especially college football games. Those players are free slaves and the cost is very low.Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been so curious about Ethan’s deeds yesterday.

It's just that these opportunities are occupied by people in the education field, and those in Hollywood don't have the opportunity to contact them, so they naturally have no way to intervene.

But Ethan is different. He has a pretty close relationship with Hollywood.

"In terms of funding..." Ethan was stunned, and then looked at Demi Moore with a knowing smile on her face, as if looking at a big green leek in the shape of a human.

Redbox just needs a pick-up person. Isn’t this the person who came to the door?
"I really don't need much money. After all, in addition to bowl games, I also hold equity in a key project." Ethan immediately shook his head.

"What project?" Demi Moore chose to sit down and listen carefully.

"I wonder if you have ever rented a videotape."

"Why rent? Why not just buy it? It's only a few dozen dollars." Demi Moore shook her head, still unable to understand the video rental.

"A few dozen dollars can cover the expenses of an average college student in Alabama for a week. The same few dozen dollars can rent dozens of video tapes. If it were you, what would you choose?" Ethan asked.

"It's too troublesome to rent video tapes. You have to go back and forth to the store frequently." Demi Moore continued.

"This is the crux of the matter. If there is a video store more than ten miles away from you, and there is a vending machine for renting video tapes in front of the drug store downstairs, what would you choose?" Ethan then asked.

"Why do pharmacies have vending machines?" Demi Moore wondered.

"Because there is a company called REDBOX that has signed contracts with all green pharmacies in Northern California. As long as a REDBOX is placed at the door, you can get a fixed payment every month."

"REDBOX turned out to be your project? I've heard of this name!" Demi Moore was surprised and then said.

The fish has been hooked.

"Yes, before long, REDBOX will open in every city in the United States, with more than 3 vending machines. Redstone spent 80 billion to acquire Blockbuster. Think about what the final valuation of REDBOX will be? "Ethan said excitedly.

Envisioning the grand market for your business is an essential skill for every entrepreneur, commonly known as storytelling.

According to the logic of investment, it doesn’t matter whether the story is HE or BE. What matters is whether the story is big enough and can be told long enough.

"After calculation, it must be 800 billion!" Xiao Lizi said immediately after some careful consideration.

As a person who has not graduated from high school, it is indeed difficult for Xiao Lizi to measure the valuation.

"All in all, the valuation is not that small. Unfortunately, in order to have liquidity, I have to sell part of my equity to investors in Silicon Valley." Ethan shook his head.

Demi Moore said nothing and thought for a moment: "Can this really make money?"

"Don't worry, sister, you will definitely make money." Ethan patted his chest to confirm.

"Currently, REDBOX has invested all its profits in expanding its scale. In fact, a single vending machine has already reached partial break-even."

Speaking is an art, and if you partially break even, it means losing money.

If you really want to make money, will it be someone else’s turn?
Everyone knows the truth, but in the profession of actors, especially those in Hollywood, most of them are not highly educated.

Demi Moore dropped out of school in the ninth grade to become a model. Apart from acting, she has no other skills for so many years.

Including Leonardo DiCaprio, Charlize Theron, all the same.

This does not mean that these actors are "stupid". In fact, any actor who can make it out is not a human being.

It's just the lack of knowledge that limits their thinking, making them unable to detect some key issues.

"Thinking about it this way, this project is indeed a guaranteed profit." Demi Moore nodded.

Seeing that everything was ready, Ethan was ready to give it one last push.

"This afternoon, in an hour to be precise, the equity delivery will be carried out." Ethan said.

"So fast?" Demi Moore was surprised.

"There is no way. I am in urgent need of funds now. In order to sell it as soon as possible, I took the initiative to lower the price and sold all 300% of redbox's equity for US$34 million."

"Only 300 million? This... I am too short." Xiao Lizi expressed his annoyance.

Demi Moore secretly breathed a sigh of relief. She originally thought that investing in this kind of enterprise would require at least tens of millions, but she didn't expect that it would only cost 300 million.

When the time comes, when the hands change hands, won’t the money come into the account in a flash?

Or don’t sell it at all and just keep it in your hands. Then won’t you have enough food and clothing for the rest of your life?
300 million is not even as much as Demi Moore's salary for one movie.The amount of investment is completely affordable for Demi Moore.

"Ethan, how about selling the equity to me?" Demi said decisively after making up her mind.

"Since they are all for sale, why not sell them to friends?" Ethan smiled very generously.

Then he pretended to make a phone call and told the non-existent Silicon Valley investor on the other end of the phone that his equity would be transferred to a friend, thus finalizing the matter.

"As expected of a young man with a successful career, he does business swiftly." Demi Moore lamented.

Can that be taken advantage of?Save you regrets.

"Thank you, Ethan." Demi Moore said sincerely.

"If you want to thank me for this, don't refuse next time Lisa asks you to discuss cooperation." Ethan climbed up the pole.

"Of course, as long as the price is right, I will give priority to Lisa." Demi Moore responded.

After watching Demi Moore leave, Ethan breathed a sigh of relief.

Not much, just a small profit of 200 million.In the future, Ethan will temporarily put this part of the proceeds, together with the proceeds from the bowl game, into Nasdaq.

Let the Internet bubble in the new century come more violently.

The aftermath?Ethan's only response to Demi Moore was "deep regret" and verbal comfort.

After meeting old friends and Grace's parents tomorrow, it's time to head to London to visit future wife Gisele Bundchen...

(End of this chapter)